Who is Bill?

[JaneTVFan]

I've been reading Mary Tyler Moore's autobiography, After All. In it, she reveals that she and Hope Lange had more in common than playing Dick Van Dyke's wife: they both had sex with the same man. No, not Dick VD! It was someone she refers to as "Bill." She says that Hope introduced Mary to him, saying he was a "magical lover" and Mary seemed to agree. Does anyone know who this person is? I'm assuming Bill is not his real name and Mary is trying to protect his identity for some reason.

[JaneTVFan]

Maybe Bill is Warren Beatty? I remember back in the early '80s my mother made a comment at dinner that she was involved with him. My mother was disappointed with Mary because suddenly, by being linked with him, the good girl image she had of Mary was being shattered. I found this on the Internet, which gives a little more support to this theory:

"Before he married then-33-year-old Annette Bening in 1992 and fathered four children, Warren was reportedly linked to such famous females as Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Vanessa Redgrave, Brigitte Bardot, Candice Bergen, Carly Simon, Cher, Barbra Streisand, Jane Fonda, Julie Christie, Madonna, Goldie Hawn, Margaux Hemingway, Elle Macpherson, Kate Jackson, Connie Chung and Mary Tyler Moore."

No mention here of Hope Lange being one of Warren's conquests, so Bill could still be another person.

Originally Posted by JaneTVFan

I've been reading Mary Tyler Moore's autobiography, After All. In it, she reveals that she and Hope Lange had more in common than playing Dick Van Dyke's wife: they both had sex with the same man. No, not Dick VD! It was someone she refers to as "Bill." She says that Hope introduced Mary to him, saying he was a "magical lover" and Mary seemed to agree. Does anyone know who this person is? I'm assuming Bill is not his real name and Mary is trying to protect his identity for some reason.

[vanilla_waif]

Mary was romantically linked to Warren Beatty in tabloids and gossip columns, and Andy Warhol asked her flat out when he interviewed her for his Interview Magazine in the early 80s.She said she wouldn't answer any questions about her personal relationships so it could be true or just a rumor. Lets leave it at that because that's Mary's personal life and none of our business. I really enjoyed reading her autobio as well and I was fascinated with her depth and honesty but I don't think it's appropriate to discuss her sex life on a fansite. What she does behind closed doors and who she does it with is nobody's business but her own.

[ClassicTVGal]

Originally Posted by vanilla_waif

Mary was romantically linked to Warren Beatty in tabloids and gossip columns, and Andy Warhol asked her flat out when he interviewed her for his Interview Magazine in the early 80s.She said she wouldn't answer any questions about her personal relationships so it could be true or just a rumor. Lets leave it at that because that's Mary's personal life and none of our business. I really enjoyed reading her autobio as well and I was fascinated with her depth and honesty but I don't think it's appropriate to discuss her sex life on a fansite. What she does behind closed doors and who she does it with is nobody's business but her own.

100% Agree there... I wish people would just leave others alone about their personal life... mainly and esp when they make up stories and spread them all over magazines and things.

[JaneTVFan]

Originally Posted by vanilla_waif

I really enjoyed reading her autobio as well and I was fascinated with her depth and honesty but I don't think it's appropriate to discuss her sex life on a fansite. What she does behind closed doors and who she does it with is nobody's business but her own.

Excuse me, but Mary brought up the subject herself! She didn't have to tell us she had sex with this guy, but she chose to do so in this book. She put this story out there in the public domain herself. She chose to make her private life public. And I can't think of a better place to discuss this than on an MTM fansite. Good grief! Would you rather I pretend she never said these things and, instead, bow down and pray to Saint Mary?

[TV Knowledge Fan]

"Bill" was also the name of "Mary Richards"' former boyfriend [the one she "escaped from", after two fruitless years, to find a new life in Minneapolis]. And "Mary" told "Bill", at the climax of episode #1, "I say a lousy goodbye". We never hear from "Bill" again for the remainder of the series...and that's just the way MARY wanted her relationship with "Bill" in real life to end.